Confidence in Home Values Rising Reaches an All-Time Low

July 20, 2011 (Jeff Alan)

American’s confidence in seeing the value of their homes going up in the next year fell to the lowest level ever as just 11 percent now believe that their homes will increase in value over the next 12 months according to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll.

Over the last year, the survey has registered results that ranged from 15 percent to 31 percent, with June’s poll showing that 16 percent of the homeowners believed the value of their home would increase.

More than half of the homeowners, 53 percent, believed their homes would be worth the same amount over the next 12 months and 33 percent of the homeowners expect their homes to be worth less in a year from now. In June, 37 percent of the homeowners felt their homes would be worth less.

Homeowner pessimism continued to carry over into the long term value of their homes too. Asked if they thought their home’s value would be higher in five years, 37 percent believed that their home’s value would be higher. That was up from 35 percent in last month’s poll.

By comparison, in 2008 after the Wall Street financial meltdown, 59 percent believed their home would be worth more in five years and throughout 2010 between 41 percent and 55 percent of homeowners believed their homes would be worth more in five years.

Thirty-five percent of the homeowners believed their home’s value would be the same in five years, while 20 percent expected their homes to be worth less over the next five years, down from 26 percent in last month’s poll.

Rasmussen also found that 57 percent of Americans believe they will be paying higher interest rates over the next 12 months. That was up from 49 percent in June. Twenty-seven percent believed they would be paying about the same interest rates and six percent expected to be paying lower interest rates in a year from now. Ten percent weren’t sure.